Does fat burn muscle? Who knows.

Not a question for my benefit to start off. I hear this question commonly, and I hear mixed answers. Say a guy wanted to build muscle, AND burn some belly fat. He has a good diet, with good cardio. Should he wait to lose the fat before building muscle, or just do it all at once. I figured atleast some of you guys would know.

What you're proposing is a recomp, which is doable but takes a great deal of dedication and planning. Most find it's easiest to do one at a time. I know I like to bulk for a good chunk of time, then really dedicate to cutting. But if you have a good clean bulk, the cut will be much easier.

The best way from my experience is to eat just a tiny bit above maintenance for bulks (100 calories or so over) and under for cuts (100 calories or so under). This allows you to slowly add or lose the weight. The best way for me to do that is to add a Protean shake on bulks or Isotean for cuts as I generally want less carbs at that time.

I have found carb cycling works best for me in this type of situation. There are a couple days where I am below my TDEE and then roughly one day above (refeed day). Something like this though I try to keep everything as simple as possible due to every day being different. Supplements reduced down to isotean postWO along with other staples like Athletic Multi, fish oil, creatine. Other wise food is just measure and go. Workouts are lift heavy compound movements followed with some drop sets to isolate muscles and keep the weight as heavy as I can. Cardio is stricktly HIIT for 20min or so a day.
That is what I do.

What you're proposing is a recomp, which is doable but takes a great deal of dedication and planning. Most find it's easiest to do one at a time. I know I like to bulk for a good chunk of time, then really dedicate to cutting. But if you have a good clean bulk, the cut will be much easier.

This. I bulked for about 5 months and just started cutting. Its easier to be dedicated to one. However I did have a successful recomp last year.

It's definitely going to be easiest to isolate each goal as you have significantly fewer variables to monitor.

That said, I've found that eating just below maintenance (find yours) with a proportionately high level of protein and supplementing with creatine has allowed me to burn fat while preserving muscle if not gaining a little.

Doing it if you have an extensive training history or if you have a low body fat percentage then this will be less feasible.

P.S. the supplement recommendations make me cringe a bit. Whey isolate if you need to cut? The couple of grams difference in carbs and fat per serving when compared to whey protein concentrate will make zero difference.

This surprises me. I am sure we can all think of a time where our weight stayed the same but you lost a noticeable amount of fat. What do you think replaced the fat you lost to keep your weight the same?

"Significant decreases were found in % body fat in the HRC group only; HRC and TS training both resulted in an increased lean but not bone mass. The HRC training was as effective as TS for improving weight lifting 1RM and peak power, shuttle-run performance and lean mass. Thus, HRC training promoted a similar strength-mass adaptation as traditional training while using a shorter training session duration."

"Hydrostatic data revealed that each group lost an identical amount of fat (5.0 lb), but the high-intensity group gained more than twice as much fat-free mass (4.3 vs 1.8 lb). The greater increase in fat-free mass by the high-intensity group explains why the low-intensity group had a greater absolute weight loss."

This surprises me. I am sure we can all think of a time where our weight stayed the same but you lost a noticeable amount of fat. What do you think replaced the fat you lost to keep your weight the same? It is fact in that it is possible. It isn't necessarily to any significant degree but it is possible. --- Circuit training in resistance trained men; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21659889 "Significant decreases were found in % body fat in the HRC group only; HRC and TS training both resulted in an increased lean but not bone mass. The HRC training was as effective as TS for improving weight lifting 1RM and peak power, shuttle-run performance and lean mass. Thus, HRC training promoted a similar strength-mass adaptation as traditional training while using a shorter training session duration." --- In overweight women; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7759741 "Hydrostatic data revealed that each group lost an identical amount of fat (5.0 lb), but the high-intensity group gained more than twice as much fat-free mass (4.3 vs 1.8 lb). The greater increase in fat-free mass by the high-intensity group explains why the low-intensity group had a greater absolute weight loss." --- Concurrent training in older women; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23377831 "All groups increased fat free mass, strength and aerobic fitness and decreased fat mass" ---- Sedentary, overweight adults; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22486342 "After training, both female exercise groups showed equivalent or greater relative improvements in strength and aerobic fitness than did the male exercise groups (p < 0.05); however, the male exercise groups increased TB-FFM and reduced TB-FM more than did the female exercise groups (p < 0.05)." --- Concurrent exercise in female college athletes; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714239 "Integrated CE produced discernible increases in lower- (23.3%) and upper- (17.8%) body muscle strength, lower-body muscle endurance (27.8%), FFM (3.3%), and lower-body flexibility (8.4%) and a decline in fat mass (-4.5%) and percent body fat (-5.7%)" --- etc etc etc

Epic studies! I lost a lot of water/fat whole only losing a few pounds before. I've done a few successful recomps as well. Currently I'm cutting but I'm still getting bigger. Its all about ya diet! Don't be afraid to cycle carbs and calories as well.